Depending on your age and perspective, you may or may not have fond memories of the three Rambo films. Where the first one was rather circumspect about America’s role in Vietnam, the sequels went all in on a might-is-right jingoism that combined adrenaline-infused action, rippling muscles and improbable set pieces with deeply queasy politics. New Hindi action-movie Yodha is cut from similar cloth.
We’re introduced to our hero, Arun (Sidharth Malhotra) as a young boy who worships his soldier father, who is then promptly killed leaving some big Freudian boots to fill. Arun vows he will either live to be worthy of wearing the uniform of his dad’s badass task force, the “Yodha” of the title, or else his “corpse will be wrapped in our flag”. Many bone-crunching displays of patriotism follow over the subsequent two hours. These are facilitated by Arun’s ability to fight like an absolute machine, and also practically teleport himself, popping up wherever the bad guys don’t want him to be.
Directors Sagar Ambre and Pushkar Ojha fully commit to the bit: there are camera zooms and dramatic musical stings that wouldn’t be out of place in an action-comedy like Hot Fuzz. Indeed, the main narrative is the sort that you see in sitcoms when Alan Partridge or Michael Scott pitch their ideas for an action film, and can be essentially boiled down to a bunch of bad bastards on a plane versus Our Guy. Malhotra gives a credibly handsome turn in the main role, playing the sort of chap who can take a finger in the bullet hole in his arm without blubbing about it, while smoothly delivering lines like: “My country will exist forever.”
Malhotra’s only proper competition in the performance stakes comes in the second half when various fun villains are unveiled, throwing into stark relief how dry most of the supporting characters in the first half were. Like the Rambo movies, though, it’s really all about the main man, his borderline-magical fighting skills, and questionable flag-waving.
• Yodha is in cinemas now.
